diff --git a/pkg/network/payload/version.go b/pkg/network/payload/version.go
index 6545b19f5..8f050d9f7 100644
--- a/pkg/network/payload/version.go
+++ b/pkg/network/payload/version.go
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/CityOfZion/neo-go/pkg/util"
 )
 
+// Size of the payload not counting UserAgent encoding (which is at least 1 byte
+// for zero-length string)
 const minVersionSize = 27
 
 // List of Services offered by the node
@@ -83,5 +85,5 @@ func (p *Version) EncodeBinary(w io.Writer) error {
 
 // Size implements the payloader interface.
 func (p *Version) Size() uint32 {
-	return uint32(minVersionSize + len(p.UserAgent))
+	return uint32(minVersionSize + util.GetVarSize(p.UserAgent))
 }
diff --git a/pkg/network/payload/version_test.go b/pkg/network/payload/version_test.go
index 098a5d05f..97a724256 100644
--- a/pkg/network/payload/version_test.go
+++ b/pkg/network/payload/version_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ func TestVersionEncodeDecode(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
+	if int(version.Size()) != buf.Len() {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected version size of %d", buf.Len())
+	}
+
 	versionDecoded := &Version{}
 	if err := versionDecoded.DecodeBinary(buf); err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
@@ -23,7 +27,4 @@ func TestVersionEncodeDecode(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("expected both version payload to be equal: %+v and %+v", version, versionDecoded)
 	}
 
-	if version.Size() != uint32(minVersionSize+len(version.UserAgent)) {
-		t.Fatalf("Expected version size of %d", minVersionSize+len(version.UserAgent))
-	}
 }